3-year MD programs are back. Will it help fix the primary care shortage?
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Students in accelerated programs start practicing medicine one year earlier and data from our study indicate that these graduates feel just as prepared as their peers for residency, while also having less debt.
—Shou Ling Leong, MD, Penn State College of Medicine press release
Drexel University College of Medicine will soon launch an accelerated MD program, giving med students a path to become a doctor in just 3 years, the university announced on March 10.
The school plans to enroll its first 3-year students in 2028 or 2029, eventually growing the program to more than 50 students.[]
"There sometimes are even more effective ways to deliver medical education," Leon McCrea, MD, family physician and vice dean for educational affairs at Drexel's College of Medicine told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "Longer isn't always better."
A growing trend
The number of schools offering accelerated MD programs has grown significantly over the past few decades, with roughly 20% of MD schools in the US having or developing a 3-year pathway, according to a paper published in Academic Medicine.[]
While 3-year MD programs gained popularity in the 1970s and 1980s, most of those programs were discontinued after funding diminished despite showing student performance equivalent with traditional 4-year programs.[]
Related: Advocate for a 4-day work week to combat burnoutBeginning in 2010, new programs began popping up across the US with a focus on increasing the primary care workforce by shortening training and reducing the role of student debt in driving specialty choice.[]
In 2021, researchers at Penn State College of Medicine found that accelerated pathway program graduates may be just as prepared for residency training and have less debt than their peers who graduated from traditional programs. They also reported the same levels of exhaustion and burn out as students in 4-year programs.[]
"These programs have great potential to address physician shortages and rising costs of medical education. Students in accelerated programs start practicing medicine one year earlier and data from our study indicate that these graduates feel just as prepared as their peers for residency, while also having less debt," Shou Ling Leong, MD, professor of family and community medicine at Penn State College of Medicine, said in a press release.[]
Lessons learned
Accelerated programs have begun to reshape medical education by acknowledging that students enter medical school with different goals and levels of certainty about their careers. As noted in Academic Medicine, some students arrive already committed to a specialty, making a traditional 4th year focused on career exploration less necessary.[]
Shortening the timeline to graduation—along with the potential to reduce student debt—has also influenced broader conversations about the cost of medical education and how financial pressures may affect specialty choice.[]
One concern among residency program directors is that accelerated pathways may limit opportunities for direct patient exposure. However, studies evaluating 3-year programs have found no differences in performance on preclinical knowledge exams and only minimal impact on clinical performance.[]
The authors also noted potential challenges, including the need for flexibility when students face academic difficulties, take leaves of absence, or reconsider their career plans.[]